Paint roller dispensers are generally known in the art and can range from very complex devices to those of extreme simplicity. Often after a user is done painting, he has to grasp the paint roller cover, full of paint, with his hand or around the edge of a bucket and physically remove the roller from the dispenser. This process is fairly inefficient, and messy as the user becomes covered in paint because he had to touch the paint filled roller to remove the roller from the dispenser.
Several solutions have been proposed in order to alleviate this problem. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,447,184 to McGinley discloses a paint roller frame that facilitates removal of a paint roller sleeve. The paint roller frame comprises an inner end cap and an outer end cap for rotatably supporting the roller on the frame, a gripper means on the axle of the frame for preventing axial movement of the sleeve relative to the frame and a means for removal of the sleeve. The sleeve is removed from the frame by manually moving the inner end cap towards the outer end cap. The means for removal of the sleeve is not remotely actuated by use of a cable.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,748 to Roe discloses a roller frame that includes an expandable core on the roller frame shaft. The expandable core has a plurality of expandable fingers. The fingers are forced radially outward during axial movement of the expandable core in one direction relative to an axially stationary cam hub on the shaft. Thus, the fingers frictionally engage the inner diameter of the paint roller cover. The paint roller cover is removed by the application of thumb pressure to the inboard end of the expandable core. When the inboard end is pressed, the expandable fingers are moved radially inward. When the expandable fingers are moved radially inward, this removes the locking tension of the cam hub by forcing the expandable core in the opposite direction. The expandable core is not spring loaded nor does it include a star spring that is remotely actuated by use of a cable.
PCT Application WO00/37184 to Babkowski discloses a paint roller frame that includes an end cap assembly. The end cap assembly comprises a push button and a cam member having a plurality of angularly spaced apart fingers. The fingers on the cam member are normally biased radially outward causing the tips of the fingers to engage the inner surface of the paint roller cover. To remove the paint roller cover from the frame, the button on the end cap is manually pressed. When the push button is pressed, the fingers move radially inward causing the tips to disengage from the inner surface of the paint roller cover. Babkowski does not disclose a use of a star spring or use of a cable to remotely actuate the fingers.
The inventions disclosed in McGinley, Roe and Babkowski all contained a removal mechanism that is attached to or near where the paint roller cover attaches to the roller frame. Since the removal mechanism is attached to or near where the paint roller cover attaches to the roller frame, the removal mechanism will get covered in paint during use of the paint roller. Thus, it would be beneficial to provide a paint roller apparatus that allows a user to remotely engage and disengage a paint roller cover from a paint roller frame quickly, cleanly and efficiently.